MICRO-ZOLT: $680ABSOLUTELY THE BEST SOUNDING PUSH/PULL
AMPLIFIER
IN ITS POWER AND PRICE RANGE
LESS IS MORE, MEETS BE SIMPLE AND BE STIFF
IT IS NOT THE SIZE OF THE DOG IN THE FIGHT,
BUT THE SIZE OF THE FIGHT IN THE DOG.

A META-GIZMOLOGICAL CONTEXT:
THE ULTRA-LIGHT MOVEMENT

Because I was a gizmo-savant as a young man, at the end
of the1950s, I noticed the beginning of something new in the America decade
which was based on YOU CAN'T GET TOO BIG the decade of the big fin Cadillac,
the big hair do, and the 56 inch Jayne Mansfield mammary mountains. Lee Wulff
started it in fishing by creating, with Orvis Fishing Rod Company, an ultra
light 6 foot/1 ounce fly road which he used for catching gigantic Atlantic
salmon that were usually caught with 15 foot heavy duty fly rods. Then ultra
light spin fishing happened. Ultra light cars from Europe, like the Beetle,
started to become very major, as was a new thing called Ultra-Light aircraft.

From a meta-gizmological point of view all of these ultra-lightweight
tools creates the advantage of (1) creating a more thrilling relationship
to the pursuit, whether it is the wind or the trout or the road (3) creates
a greater challenge of control and finesse; only a man of advanced skill and
spirit would use these type of "vulnerable devices".(3) creates separation
from the masses.

It may seem oblique to you but the rise of hunting with
a bow and arrow is part of this shift of meta-gizmological intentionality
to the more intimate. Do you say that sea kayaking is also part of this movement?
Right you are.

Forty years latter there are thousands of companies that
service the needs of men who have gotten off the "normal path" and are compelled
by their advanced aesthetic sensibilities to use carbon fiber bicycle frames
or titanium rods for their engine, or directly heated triode tubes, a custom
made guitars. Beyond the "normal" demand is the world of the "non-normal"
demand, and all of this demand is created by all of us aliens whose soul is
no longer awakened by the common fare.

Who is the guy making the carbon fiber bike frame that
cost $3,000? He is the gonzo biker who knows his brother's suffering. Who
is the man who is hand crafting bamboo fly rods? He is the gonzo fisherman
who deeply feels what men feel for trout. There are men who work at their
art, and their art is who they are. Clearly my goal is to support this tribe
a met-gizmosavants.

DAVID BERNING'S MIND IS A TUBE

Now you know why David Berning created the world first
stereo push/pull Micro-ZOTL amplifier that produces an enormous 1 watt
per channel and can be powered with (1) its own switching power supply, (2)
an external 10Volt regulated DC supply or(3) a battery FOR $680.

Now stop, and print out these pages and take them into
the potty, sit down and study. Study hard, because what I am describing is
one of those rare and sublime work of audio arts that has the possibility
of transcending the transcendent. This is another historic achievement because(1)
It is an instant classic of thermionic groovosity; the kind of audio you must
own, just because it represents a chunk of rare genius. I think all of David's
products reaches this height, and the latest is taking me higher than forty
pounds of mescaline sour cream dip slugged down with corn chips (2)
If used properly this amplifier could be the beginning of a breakthrough in
the common BI-WIRED SPEAKER TURDOSITY .and I am not sure how many
speakersare properly designed for this application(3) Making
the Lowther cult into Mainstream audio almost. If I were Tony Glynn, the importer
of Lowther I would send David on a national speaking tour. If you love Lowthers,
or you would like to explore them, here's the way to start. (4) The
ultimate headphone amplifier for home use, and (5) a really cool device
for picking up girls in a park (6) other exotic uses which I will describe
at the end of this article.

I also believe that David, in a previous incarnation
was Jewish. Why do I believe this? First: the price of Micro-Zotl is below
wholesale, in the way that Jewish audiomaniacs, smelling a bargain will
buy so many that our Christian, Muslim, and Agnostic bros' will have to wait
years to get one AND .I told David to raise the price to $1,500,
and I think he will comply very soon. DO I HAVE TO HIT YOU OVER THE HEAD ABOUT
WHAT TO DO?

Exactly at the time that there is a massive dumbing down
in the audio arts, there is a wave of creativity and innovation that is shoving
us, all up, to a new plateau.....and you cant find this wave on Main
Street, because it is illegal to create any waves on Main Streams....which
are supposed to orderly and calm.

My view is that all of the new directly heated triode
tubes, the expanding creativity with all forms of audio output transformers,
from plate chokes to OPTs is clearly connected to the work that David Berning
is doing with his completely unique ZOTL amplifier circuit. The 4th
Wave of Tube Consciousness is all about a new form of creativity search for
higher subtly.

Am I biased about David's genius? He is one of my heroes,
with a rare balance of design innovation, intelligence, good humor and daring
that is hard to find in any human activity, but especially hard to find in
the audio industry, who have so many who have died years ago, and forget to
get buried. I am also proud of him because he is constantly taking risks without
any "normal" marketing considerations. Like Who really needs a 1 watt
tube amplifier that has no output transformer .that is too cool for fools?

My praise of his HZ-70 and his ZOTL-SET sent a shock
wave through those companies that make conventional OTL amplifiers, and rather
than have a dialogue with David on his ideas, they tried to assassinate the
messenger me. Never happen. They considered me a blasphemer of the very
tube amplifier genre I popularized the OTL. This was a good thing because
it forced me to speak more boldly about the right way to use OTL amplifiers.

Over time I realized that there was a problem with Davids
ZOTL amplifiers....they didnt look like Harley-Davidsons .or conventional
amplifiers. They also have a completely unique personality, or as I like to
say, "aroma", and this may cause you anxiety if you are used to the sound
of transformer coupled amplifiers or conventional OTLs. Or to put it another
way....every amplifiers has its own unique coloration, and Berning ZOTL, is
a new aroma, and it will take time for music maniacs to warm to it.

After I wrote my review of the ZOTL for Positive-Feedback
I also noticed an interesting and understandable reaction to David. When I
normally talk to audio designers they love to chew the audio fat about anyone
and any product. But when I mention David and his ZOTL circuit...silence,
or ...."Oh, He is in another world" end of conversation. David is too
alien for normal earthling audio designers.

Call a spade a spade....everyone knows that Berning is
the living incarnation of Albert Einstein, and his circuits intimidates almost
everyone...and few have the technical skill to understand how they work. I,
on the other hand, have enormous technical self-confidence, so what I do is
take his patent papers and put a Playboy magazine in the center of these papers,
so it looks like I am studying the circuit when I am really looking at Miss
November. (This is a good technique to impress women who are impressed by
men who are technical) Then when I am done studying I sit back, throw the
switch to ON and get off on experiencing a major new work of audio art...even
if it isnt still fully developed, which will take at least fifty years.
That right I believe David's new patent is just at the beginning of its
development stage.

Right now, as I am writing this, I am listening to two
( shoe box size) Micro-Zotls in bi-amped mode on my Westminster Royals that
means I using four, one watt amplifiers one watt on each channel ...for
90% of the music I listen to I have enough power to cause ear damage .and
I am looking at the big, beefy power output tube and Wholey Smokes it
is a 6SN7!!!!!

FASHBACK: If you are hunting for truffles or exotic
implementations of LESS IS MORE, you keep you ears open, and when almost two
years ago Count Kron told me that his KR10, his dual triode driver tube on
steroids, would make a great output tube. Yes, of course any tube, like the
6SN7, could be used as a micro output tube, because it has two triodes in
the glass envelope. With a simple input/phase splitter this could make a very
simple low powered push/pull amplifier. Jack Eliano of Eltra-Print and I talked
about the same idea, and he told me about some ideas he had for just such
an amplifier which would be perfect for Lowthers...and very simple....and
could therefore have a very stiff power supply. The lower the power requirement
of the power supply the easier it is to make it stiff.

Notice how almost all tube preamp designers use tight
stiff power supplies but DO NOT use stiff power supplies on their tube amplifiers.
QUESTION: HOW DOES A TUBE KNOW WHAT KIND OF CIRCUIT IT IS IN? If you have
the answer email me and I will send you a free Triode Guild T-shirt.

FORWARD: Those of you who subscribe to Glass Audio
know that David built the worlds first tube powered digital watch. This
is a major breakthrough because just as men are getting tired and fed up with
those cheap ultra thin digital watches, David comes up with the concrescence
of watch coolosity.

While most tube artisans think in terms of producing
twenty or hundred pieces, David thinks in terms of tens of thousands and millions.
Why not sell 50,000 tube powered digital watches? If they were massed produced
you could buy them for $29, and what could be cooler than having a tube powered
watch?

Or what about a tube powered Sony walkman? If you could
make them for $69 what would happed to the music industry? If you could develop
the patent, wouldn't Sony give you a zillion bucks for your patent? Probably
NOT. But I am getting ahead of myself now, and will discuss how to use Micro-Zolt
while you are roller skating in the park ( but really hunting for beaudacious
babes).

Are you beginning to get a sense of David's expansive
imagination...this is a man who thinks in very large pictures....and that
makes him completely unique in the audio industry. Will David become the audio
industrys first billionaire? I think the answer to the question is YES,
and I am now going to share with you my experience of the MICRO-ZOLT....but
before I do, I must reveal this:

I gave David the name ZOTL to use because it is the name
for a new type of tube output stage that doesnt need and audio output
transformer, and ZOTL, is the name of one of hero characters in my action
adventure story SETMI, which you can read about on the SETMI site. And there
is definite synchronicity between their spirits.

David called me almost a year ago and told me that he
was considering making a micro powered version of ZOTL. According to David
by using the 6SN7, as an output tube, he would get about 1.5 watts. I thought
this was a very good idea, for the following reasons (1) supply the Lowther
tribe with an affordable high quality ZOTL type amplifier (2) create the first
portable tube powered "Sony Walkman" type system (3) create a novel solution
for using an ZOTL amplifier with bi-wired speakers (4) Create the heart of
a great table radio.

Now stop and consider this: It is common knowledge that
if a tube amplifier is not pumping out 100 watts it will have no appeal to
the masses...and this is true. So why does David devote himself to a 1 watt
amplifier?

For the same reason that a dog licks itself in unspeakable
disgusting, but ultimately pleasureful places It is the same reason that David
created the world first single-ended ZOTL circuit, after he created the push/pull
version....he had no choice. This is the meta-gizmological imperative;
the need in artistic men to shred the perimeter of their art. David doesnt
need to play in the high horse power play pen, because it no longer challenges
him. Is it easier for you to think of David as Beethoven, who is scratching
his butt and wondering what to do after finishing the 7th Symphony.

And do not underestimate the artistic vanity of the artist.
Micro-Zotl is the right thing to do. David should show off, in the same way
that Michaelangelo needed to show off. It is clear that with each and every
product, David is pushing the boundaries a little further. My take on this
process, is that David loves to experiment with this current (circuit) love
of his life, and like every truly Wholey Polygamist he is discovering multiple
modalities of expressions ..You may recognize this impulse when it appears
on a much lower level of consciousness, as a question you ask over and over,
within your head: How many different ways can I make her come? Artists
are horny to make the public come .in new ways.

And please pass me the envelop so I can announce the
winner of the BEST SOUNDINGONE WATT UNDER $700 AMPLIFIER AWARD.
Thank you Vanna. The winner is David Berning who now runs up to the stage
and recites his thank you speech with great difficulties because he is so
emotional and filled with tears.

LET US START WITH THE NOT

Let me tell you what Micro-Zotl is
not:

It is not powerful

It does not sound like a directly heated triode single-ended
circuit

It is not big, it is the size of a shoe box

It does not have the same output stage as its bigger
brothers; there is an output coupling cap, so it does not have the ultimate
transparency of the larger and more expensive ZOTLs

It is not black, it is blue

It does not have the aural discombobularity of push/pull
amplifiers

It does not heat your room

It does not use expensive output tubes

It does not work with inefficient speakers

LET ME TELL YOU WHAT MICRO-ZOLT IS

THE BEST SOUNDING HEADPHONE AMP I HAVE HEARD TO DATE:
I am one of the few Blessed Ones who had a
chance to experience the Julius Futterman OTL Headphone amplifier which is
a very rara avis, that Julius made in the 1970s for the Stax Headphones. This
was another one of Julius's historic achievement..the first OTL headphone
amp for electrostatic headphones. The world is waking up to tube headphones
and especially OTL types because (1) tubes sound better (3) if you live in
an apartment it may be the only way to get blow your mind.

So getting down to the nitty gritty: How good is this headphone amplifier?
After listening to it I called up John Grado and enlisted him in a project to
design headphones just for Micro-Zotl.

Let's keep on going down this path because Micro-Zotl is, as a headphone amplifier,
one of the best design tools a serious tube artisan can employ in his work.
I have written about this subject before: anyone who is designing audio electronics
and doesn't have a reference headphone amplifier is dumber than dumb. But there
is a good reason why so few designers use them IT IS AUDIO EGO INTIMIDATION.
No device will more quickly reveal the essential flaws in all audio equipment .and
that is from cables to loudspeakers if you know how to use them.

Let us not dwell on what Micro-Zotl can't do, but think about expanding the
experiential possibilities, and I suggest with the new Grado design and Micro-Zotl
a new musical facet of ecstasy will emerge in your life. This is about the deep
space probe of musical innerosity.

HEALING SPEAKER TURDOSITY: Sorry that I have to take on the role of
"Red Hot Chili Pepper Up Your Butt", but bi-wiring is a charming yet feeble
attempt at fixing a fundamental dilemma with passive crossovers. As you know
a much better way is to use two amplifiers, but that becomes horribly expensive
for most. IF YOU PAY ATTENTION TO THIS CAVEAT .the MICRO-ZOTL may be your
dream come true. IF YOUR MIDRANGE AND TWEETER CAN BE DRIVEN TO ACCEPTABLE
LEVELS WITH THE MICRO-ZOTL USED IT IN THE BI-AMP MODE, and that means that the
gain of your woofer amp must be high. Firstly, the Micro-Zotl is much better
above 600 Hz than below because it is only one watt. The Micro-Zotl has low
over all gain because it is so low powered, but if you can adjust your bass
amp so that it matches the level of Micro-Zotl you are in for a major big thrill like
eating pizza, getting a valve and ring job, watching an NFL game, all at the
same time while you are on the potty. This will be your introduction to Triode
Heaven.

For my very serious directly heated triode brothers of the single-ended kind .Micro-Zolt
blends beautifully with DHTs, and if you are using a 2A3, 300B or any other
variation try Micro-Zotl on your midrange or tweeter you will be amazed.

BUT AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN..I AM NOT CERTAIN THAT YOUR SPEAKER
SYSTEM WILL WORK WITH MICRO-ZOLT

RIGHTEOUS PUSH/PULL: Who is the genius that said
LESS IS MORE? Next to the Sun Audio amps these are the best push/pull amplifiers
I have ever heard because they don't sound like push/pull amps with their
high dosage of aural discombobularity that is directly related to (1) phase
splitter (2) complexity (3) OPT design and power supply limitations. Wouldn't
it be grand to live in a world where a higher powered amplifier could have
the refinement of smaller amplifiers? Not in this life time. What is the meaning
of all this? What the world needs is more low-powered push/pull amplifiers
that will meet the aesthetic standards of the single-ended tribe.

The Lowther cult should be shouting in joy because there
are advantages in push/pull when it is done right like here. Micro-Zolt
may be the single best thing that ever happened to Lowthers because David's
impedance matching may heal the Lowther's weirdosity in the low end because
of the inherent strangeness of single-ended OPTs. I await the Lowther clan's
response. At $680 there is nothing close to this refinement in simple and
stiff.

QUIET: This little mother is quiet, meaning no
noise, because David uses high frequency switching power supplies for the
filaments too. This is especially enjoyable when listening on headphones which
have the capacity to reveal all background grunge and glory when there
is a very low noise floor.

TUNEABLE: ALMOST: When you change power supplies
you change, every so slightly the tone of the amplifier. But the big change
occurs when you change the tubes that are stock which are just dumb old new
Russian 6SN7s, and 12AT7. Go crazy with NOS tubes.

WARNING: WHAT FOLLOWS IS NOT FOR AUDIOPHILES BUT FOR LIVING
MEN

THE BEST WAY TO PICK UP BEAUDACIOUS BABES IN THE PARK:
If you are 98 pound weakling don't bother to read this section because you
have to be in shape to take advantage of this section.

Let start by being honest: Most of you want to pick up
beaudacious babes and have really raunchy sex without any emotional attachments,
and this isn't easy because there competition is fierce. How can you effectively
compete. Here's how to use Micro-Zotl. Assuming that you are in shape, you
have to get a good strong back pack to carry a large 12 volt battery. It doesn't
have to be a large car battery. It can be a lawn mower battery. You will build
a carrying case for the Micro-Zotl so that it is strapped across your chest.
The batter is your power pack and you can now plug your portable CD player
into Micro-Zotl and plug in your headphones. You now are ready for your hunt.
Try to picture how you will look. Now is the one missing piece that will make
all the difference in the world. You have to get a hat that has a propeller
on top than will turn in the wind.

While I suggest that this picture will be more dynamic
if you are on roller skates, there is nothing wrong with just walking around.
As you approach a beaudacious babe, all that you have to do is say as
you hand her the headphones "Searching for Musical Ecstasy?". That's
it. And remember always use a condom which is just like listening to
speakers with passive crossovers.

BEST CAR AUDIO AMPLIFIER IN THE WORLD?: You have
never heard a really cool audio system, including all the crap you see in
car audio magazines, until you listen to a set of Altec 604's installed in
the rear compartment, and powered by a Micro-Zotl, which can run off your
car's electrical system as long as a 12 volt regulator is installed, which
is very easy to do and David will give you the diagram on how to do it. Of
course Micro-Zolt will power the Lowther Drivers you put in your car. What
could be cooler than having an OTL car amp? The answer is nothing.

WANT A CHEAP OTL THRILL?: As I said this little
mutha doesn't sound like a classic OTL, or like David's bigger and more expensive
amplifier, but it does have an OTL personality, and there is no other way
to experience that thrill at such a low price.

SO WHAT DO TUBE DOGS DO?

So I started to scratch for my bone in my tube drawer
and took out my collection of NOS 6SN7s and 12AT7s (that I had from New York
Audio Days) and I did what every good tube dog does, I swapped from the standard
tubes that supplied with the Micro-Zotl and I demonstrated once again why
NOS tubes can give us a boner. Do it. Spend the money and buy a selection
of the good old stuff and take Micro-Zotl much higher.

I haven't had time yet to experiment with battery power
supplies but you know my feelings about them and I will let you know as soon
as I get into them.